The Year in Review: 2020

The year 2020 proved challenging for CAF, as it did for so many around the world as the COVID-19 pandemic raged. We were forced to cancel the Regan Research Fellowship and the Regan Memorial Lecture, and some of our 2019 and 2020 grantees were unable to complete their work due to lockdowns and travel restrictions. Nonetheless, CAF continued to grow. That January, we received a record 130 applications for grants from 46 countries, and were able to provide grants to scholars and artists from Spain, Mexico, Germany, Poland, Australia, Zimbabwe, North America, and elsewhere. Our board members remained busy: Martin Rowe launched his new non-profit publishing company, Lantern Publishing & Media; Mylan Engel published an article on fish sentience entitled “Fishy Reasoning and the Ethics of Eating” in the journal Between the Species; and animal photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur published HIDDEN: Animals and the Anthropocene, her astonishing edited volume depicting animals in the human environment. Tom Regan’s work continued to be explored, as for instance in “Tom Regan’s Philosophy of Animal Rights: Subjects-of-a-Life in the Context of Discussions of Intrinsic and Inherent Worth,” published in Problemos. We also said goodbye to three longstanding board members—Gary Comstock, Marion Bolz, and our co-founder Nancy Regan—whose work for, and commitment to, CAF over decades are immeasurable. At the same time, we welcomed six new board members with genuine diversity of approaches, skills, and disciplines in support of Tom and Nancy Regan’s vision. These were: Candace Laughinghouse, Ivy Collier, Suzanne Pender, Karen Regan, Jill Howard Church, and Rachel Robison-Greene. Rachel took Gary’s place as the Secretary of the organization.